Gaea (Earth-616)
| Universe = Earth-616 | BaseOfOperations = Earth | Gender = Female | Height = | Weight = | Eyes = | Hair = | UnusualFeatures = Gaea can appear in humanoid form with varying characteristics, generally with ethnicity matching those who see her. | CharRef = | Citizenship = Elder God | MaritalStatus = | Occupation = All-Mother of Asgard , Goddess of Earth, Elder God | Education = 5 billion years of life experience | Origin = Gaea is an Elder God and cosmic being, who resides in Earth. | PlaceOfBirth = The universe in its early stages | Creators = Steve Englehart; Don Heck | First = | HistoryText = Gaea was one of the Elder Gods who materialized on Earth before any life appeared there. She and her brother Chthon inhabited Earth's land masses, affecting geological patterns. Except for Gaea, the Elder Gods degenerated into demons, preying upon each other. Gaea called upon the Demiurge, the sentient life force of Earth's biosphere, and gave birth to Atum, who became Demogorge and slaughtered the other Elder Gods, though some, like Chthon and Set, escaped extra-dimensionally (Note: Many beings incorrectly refer to themselves as Elder Gods). Gaea infused her life essence into all living beings on Earth. She protected Earth from the influence of Set, supporting the development of humanity over dinosaurs and leading the Celestials to destroy a group of Serpent Men. However, the rest of the gods, following the example of Set the Snake God, started eating each other, a process that turned all but Gaea into demons. Worried that they might menace the organic life forms, Gaea summoned the Demiurge and "mated" with it, to give birth to her first son, the sun-god Atum, who, in its form of Demogorge the God-Eater, devoured all the demons, except those that escaped to other planes, such as Set and Chthon. Gaea then merged with the Earth itself, and dedicated herself to guiding evolution. Atum went to live in the Sun. Millions of years later, Gaea decided to allow the dinosaurs to become extinct, so mammals would evolve in their place. This angered Set, who drew power from them. He made the dinosaurs try to hunt down all mammals, so Gaea summoned the Demogorge to deal with him. Their battle may have finished killing off the dinosaurs. In the end, Set was banished from Earth. & Jord (by Bob Hall)]] Thousands of years ago, when the second generation of gods began to appear on Earth, Gaea mated with many of them (under various different identities) thus becoming the "Mother-Goddess" mentioned in several myths. Under the name "Jord" she mated with Odin, who wanted a son who would be strong on Earth (not just in Asgard) and gave birth to Thor. However, Thor was not told the true identity of his mother. One thousand years ago, the cosmic entities known as the Celestials came to Earth and forced the gods to stop intervening with humanity's development; they also revealed they would return in one thousand years to judge humanity. Worried, the Godheads (the rulers of the various pantheons) met and made plans to combat the entities on their return; however, afraid that might fail, Gaea met with the queens of the gods and came up with an alternate plan: they would choose the Young Gods, a group of twelve humans, each representing one of mankind's achievements, as time went by. Each would be made immortal and put to sleep in a secret chamber, where they would be watched over by the various goddesses of all the pantheons (taking turns) until the Celestials' return. Several years ago, Gaea was captured by the entity called Dormammu, but was freed by Doctor Strange and his lover, Clea. When the souls of all Asgardians (except Thor's) possessed the body of the Destroyer and attacked the Celestials, only to be defeated and scattered. Gaea then appeared with the Young Gods, and presented them to the Celestials as proof of man's worth to survive. They were accepted, and the Celestials left without destroying the Earth. Gaea, in the form of a dark-haired woman, then healed the wounded Thor, and explained the whole story to him. She also told him how he could restore the Asgardians' souls to their bodies with help from all the other Godheads, which he then went on to obtain. Gaea then went back to being 'one with the planet' Gaea continues to grant power to many who call on her, from the ancient Sisters of Danu to the modern Ardina, Brother Nature, Clea, Dark Mairi, Doctor Strange, the Neurii, the Olympian Prometheus, and Topaz. She has even directed opposition to threats such as Dormammu (who once held her prisoner until she channeled the life force of every being on Earth to banish him) and Maelstrom. Her pain resulting from the harm humanity had done to Earth, nearly drove the mutant Humus Sapien to take the lives of all mankind. She was captured by the extradimensional scientist Yandroth and forced to place a curse on the earliest Defenders, compelling them to gather to oppose threats to Earth. She continued to perpetuate this curse herself for a time, pleased to have even unwilling protectors, but she dissolved it after the Defenders became corrupt due to Yandroth's influence. She informed Nighthawk that he would have the power to summon them should the need arise. During the Chaos War story line, Gaea was sought to be protected by the divine pantheons of Earth at all cost with the Shinto Sun Goddess Amaterasu sealing off the throne room of the Council of Elite to do so. When the Chaos King destroyed most of the divine realms of each pantheons, Gaea, with her daughter the Fire Goddess Pele summoned the remaining gods to Mt. Halemaumau for the last moments of farewell. There, Gaea revealed to Hercules that she is the true font of creation, the first being to form out of chaos and that she is the true source of what the gods can do have have done. She then instructs Hercules to embrace her daughter Pele as she teaches him to to become the God of Gods despite Athena's words that her time draws near with the Chaos King saying that Gaea should stop dreaming of creation and return to his night. Still, despite her weakened state, Gaea still managed to teach how to use the nigh-omnipotent powers within him and imbued him with her own powers allowing Hercules to destroy Athena in a single gesture. Gaea is currently one third of the All-Mother of Asgard. | Powers = Gaea possesses great mystical powers of an undefined nature. Gaea can use any number of natural or magical effects as they pertain to the Earth itself. Spiritual Energy Absorption: She can draw on the spiritual energies of all of Earth’s living beings since all of these beings share part of her life essence. Nature Control: She can command the forces of nature on Earth, such as storms and volcanic activity. Earth Bond: Although Gaea’s powers may seem similar to many of those of the living planet, Ego, Gaea and Ego are actually two very different kinds of beings. Ego is a planet that has acquired sentience, whereas Gaea is a goddess who has infused her life essence into the living beings of her planet. Curative Healing: Gaea is known to have great powers to heal injured living beings and to cause living beings to grow. Telekinesis: She has considerable telekinetic power and can even levitate Thor’s hammer, which few beings can lift through non-mechanical means. Mystic Patron: Gaea can also bestow mystical power upon sorcerers who know how to call upon her for it. Creative Force: Gaea is the embodiment of the spirit of life, growth, harvest, and renewal on Earth. Eyes of the Beholder: Gaea does have a humanoid form, but she generally manifests herself in whatever humanoid form she chooses. Usually, she appears as a young woman with long black hair and blue eyes, but as Jord, she appeared as a young woman with blond hair and blue eyes. It has been suggested that she always appears in the form of however image she was worshiped as by whatever race on earth. So if she appeared before am ethnically diverse group, she would appear in the form of an ethnic image connected to that person such as African to a person of African descent and Asian to a person of Asian descent even simultaneously. In any of her humanoid forms, she has: Superhuman Strength Superhuman Stamina Superhuman Vitality Enchanted Longevity Superhuman Durability: Invulnerability to conventional injury and terrestrial disease. | Abilities = | Strength = Possibly Class 100 although she rarely relies on physical strength. | Weaknesses = | Equipment = | Transportation = | Weapons = | Notes = | Trivia = | Links = * Gaea at the Guide to the Mythological Universe }} Category:Healers Category:Sega - Thor Category:Silver-Age Characters Category:Atmokinesis Category:Hydrokinesis Category:Pyrokinesis Category:Aerokinesis Category:Geokinesis Category:Botanopathy Category:Zoopathy